St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-04-04
A CHECKERED CAREER,
The Report That Col. William K. ROGERS,
OF Sonora, CAL, is Kissane, Pretty
Generally Believed.
An Enormous Amount of Money Spent By
Sidney g. Burton in the ks
sane Litigation.
The Great Lawyer Now Believed I'm
Have Been Poisoned at Kts-
sane's Instfgation.
Letters and Other Evidence Going to
Show That Ktssane Was a Des-
perate Character.

SAN FRANCISCO. April 3.-There seems
TO be no doubt among those who are in no.
! Sitlon TO know that the statement unfinished
III the California Democrat "a German
/ paper OF this city, regarding Kissane az
/ telegraphed East last night. is strictly cor-
rect, and that William Kissane and Col
! William *. Rogers, wealthy citizen of
! th!s state, living at Sonora. are one and the
same person. This fact has been known to,
/ several people of this city, but. out Of con-
Sidtlauon for his family and relations he
mas not been made known. The California
democrat was the first to reveal Klssanes
luehtlty, but nothing further than what was
! teIegFaphed from Cleveland has been NEIL
toned on the subject.
STARTLING DOCUMENTS.
CLEVELAND, o., April 1.-The Leader
Will tomorrow publish another instaIlnent
OF the story OF Sidney c. Burton's efforts
TO run down William Klssane. 1t saws:
Every detail of this case has been pre-
| served III manuscript and is now in the pos
session OF a daughter of Burton. Mrs.
! FRANCES ii. Bowman, of No. % State
! street. The documentary evideuceincludes
me manuscript Of a book written BY Mr..
! burton and vOluminous CORRESPONDENCE
with persons Interested in the case. A
CohpIcte story Ol hlSodne career has never
| appeared in print. In 1851 GIr. Burton had
been established for eight years as the pro-
pretor OF leather and wooden warehouse.
He conducted a prosperous business. Among
his correspondents were FilIey 4 Chaplin. .
leather firm in Cincinnati. In November,
| 1851, Mr.. Burton
| HELD THEIR NOTES
| for 81, 500 and he owned also !. GOO sheen.
| Skins, which were stored in theirWare-
| house. On Dec. %, 1851, he visited Gin
cnnatl, and found that the firm had
| made an assignment. They were succeeded
| by Lyman Cole, a man who was subse-
| quently arrested in New York on the charge
OF having been implicated with Kissane In
| the bank forgery When Burton asked for
! payment of the notes and the return of The,
SKINS ne was informed that he could go
! 10 the devil with the rest OF the credtors'1
Capt, Cummings, who commanded the
Martha Washington. was an intimate
friend OF Cole and kissane had an interest,"
| ID the business. Mr.. Burton learned that
they had purchased the Martha Washing.
ton, and were annoyed overthe unfavorablal
circumstances that prevented her arrival
| The vessel put in an appearance at last,
and steamed out of Cincinnati for New
| Orleans with q heavy invoice on JAN 6,
1882 1t was soon developed that the
SletlliSI anu cargo were
| HEAVILY INSURED.
On Jan. -. 1852, the boat was burned
near Helena, Ark. Sixteen lives were lost,
and the value OF the property was placed at
S125, 600. Early III the same year Mr.. Bur-
ton sued Adam Chaplin. of New York, en-.
| deaVorIng to secure the payment of an i'll
| Surance policy for 500, 900, and. satisfied
that the burning of the steamer was an act
| OF incendiariSlu, lie notified the insurance
companies and they refused to pay. the
policy. The conspirators then fought to
win Mr.. sRrrton over 10 their side. He
says in,his manuscript that they offered
him $4,000 in addition to the Filley and
Chaplin notes if he would assist them in
securing the payment Of the Insurance
money. Then Nj. Burton resolved to bring
the criminals to justice. The Insurance
! companies refused to assist him. but he eX-
pended $50, 600 of his own money and over
SO, 600 contributed by friends. During his
pursuit Of the gang he travelled $50. 600
miles. He was constantly bounded. har-
assed and even threatened by Kssane
and his friends Few persons are aware
that
EMl1ISsARIEs OF INSANE
were instrumental i'll causing Mr.. Burton's
death. In the summer OF 1855 he visited
| New York. and, as had been the case
throughout his travels in the United States
and Canada. every movement was watched
by KisSane'S agents. Early in the fall he
| became the victim Of q mysterious illness
and returned to his home here. He lin
gered few months but never recovered,
dying on Dec. II, 1850. The fact was es-
tablished at the time that kISSane'S friends
had succeeded in smuggling a subtle poison
into his food and his death resulted, de-
spite the efforts of the best physicians to
| him " IN 1,1t.r ~
| travels book giving detailed account of
the case, but it was never put into print
1t was entitled, The Drama of Crime: or,
| Tragedies i'll Real Life" According TO the
| preface the book contains, among other
things, IA complete confession of William
| kisSane." Among Mrs. BOwman'S papers
are several interesting letters. One from
Gen. Francis j. \. Darr, OF san Francisco,
bears date Of July II, 1856. Gen. Darr
says:
PRETTY DIRECT.
7 am native Of Cincinnati and of the old
! firm Of Gross Diley. Our factory Candles.
| soaps and oils was destroyed IN 1851 by tho
ipcendiary act Of William Kssane. While we
were preparing the proofs the other crimes
CAME tollight. kissane has become rich and
! proIniuent, and his intimates know nothing
oil his crimes. He was born in ireland, emi-
grated 70 Canada and went thence to Cnciu-
natl in the 40s. Finally he escaped the halter
| by the death Of your father by poisoning.
Another letter is from John Eddy, OF
| Providence, Il. l., former officer of the
| Chemical bank. 1t bears date Nov. 20,
1886, and in it Mr.. Eddy says:
KISSANE WAS PARDONED
| after your fathers death. HI went to Near
| aqua, and returned during the war and held
some prominent positions. He now lives in
| luxury.
John S, Toppan, of New York. president
of the Marine Insurance company, took
| Kissanes confession. Mrs. Bowman has
written to Recorder Smythe, of New Y ork,
letter which will reach is destination on
Monday, giving some information about the
case. Col. c. W. Doubleday. Of this city.
who was one of Filibuster Walkers adju-
| tants in Nicaragua, told a reporter last night
that he knew kissane when the latter was
acting as cOmmiSSary OF the expedition.
lie says kiSSane was a sort of desperate.
While it was not known in Nicaragua that
kiSsane and Rogers We're identical the
officials for some reason suspected that he
was the same man who was mixed up i'll
| the Martha Washington disaster.
Funeral of GEN. Ripley.
CHARLESTON, S. c., April 3.-The fu-
! of tho lot n Con ,I,I,ol,